Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Lloyds scrap PPI
Lloyds Banking Group to scrap Payment Protection Insurance
Consumer Revenge site MoneySavingExpert.com has just learned Lloyds Banking Group (including Halifax) has stopped selling Payment Protection Insurance on all its loans, credit cards and mortgages.
Instead it will simply hand out a generic leaflet about PPI with such products. When the site asked the bank about this, all the Lloyds spokesperson would confirm was:
"Lloyds Banking Group stopped selling PPI from Friday, 23 July across all brands. The group does not expect this move to have an impact on income and the group will continue to receive income from existing policies.
Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySavingExpert.com, comments:
"This is a quite astonishing move. This insurance, which has been scandalously missold for years leaving many consumers in misery, is estimated to be worth up to five billion pounds a year for the industry.
"Frankly we're jumping for joy at this news, and hope the other big banks follow suit. The product itself isn't bad, it can provide useful protection to people if they're sick or lose their jobs as it covers their repayments, but people should go to competitive standalone insurers rather than banks.
"That's because they sell it at four or five times over the odds, often without checking suitability, meaning many have been duped into paying a hidden £1,000+ extra on policies that are worthless for them.
"To all those who've got or had one of these policies - even on a now paid off loan - I'd urgently suggest you check it's suitable, we've had over 900,000 template letters for PPI reclaiming downloaded and countless millions paid back, you may be eligible for serious money."
Instead it will simply hand out a generic leaflet about PPI with such products. When the site asked the bank about this, all the Lloyds spokesperson would confirm was:
"Lloyds Banking Group stopped selling PPI from Friday, 23 July across all brands. The group does not expect this move to have an impact on income and the group will continue to receive income from existing policies.
Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySavingExpert.com, comments:
"This is a quite astonishing move. This insurance, which has been scandalously missold for years leaving many consumers in misery, is estimated to be worth up to five billion pounds a year for the industry.
"Frankly we're jumping for joy at this news, and hope the other big banks follow suit. The product itself isn't bad, it can provide useful protection to people if they're sick or lose their jobs as it covers their repayments, but people should go to competitive standalone insurers rather than banks.
"That's because they sell it at four or five times over the odds, often without checking suitability, meaning many have been duped into paying a hidden £1,000+ extra on policies that are worthless for them.
"To all those who've got or had one of these policies - even on a now paid off loan - I'd urgently suggest you check it's suitable, we've had over 900,000 template letters for PPI reclaiming downloaded and countless millions paid back, you may be eligible for serious money."
DATED: 27.07.10
FEED: MI
